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North Central Health Care to help AOD Partnership

Andy Davis
7:22 p.m. CDT July 14, 2014

Drug prevention specialist Sue Nowak talks about the one common trait she has found among drug-addicted individuals — “denial.” She was speaking at a 2013 news conference at the 400 Block in downtown Wausau put on by the Marathon County Alcohol and Other Drugs Partnership.
(Photo:
Daily Herald Media file photo
)

WAUSAU – The Marathon County Alcohol and Other Drugs Partnership Council will lose $125,000 in annual funding in September when its 10-year federal grant for the Drug-Free Communities Support Program expires, and local experts are trying to find ways to extend the program’s work.

North Central Health Care’s Human Services Operations Committee on Wednesday will consider several proposed solutions to keep the council operating as it is. Gary Bezucha, CEO of North Central Health Care, said the program’s work is critical as heroin and methamphetamine abuse continue to grow and take lives in central Wisconsin.

“I think the prevention needs are tremendous, and I think the (partnership council) is doing a great job,” Bezucha said. “We’d like to keep them doing what they’re doing.”

The partnership’s benefits for the community are threefold, said Melissa Dotter, the Drug Free Communities Program coordinator for the partnership council: prevention, treatment and enforcement. The partnership council is responsible for prevention initiatives such as Pushback Against Drug Abuse and The Real Happy Hour. North Central Health Care and local police handle treatment and enforcement respectively.

“This is definitely a conversation we need to have to sustain all our efforts and move forward,” Dotter said. “It’s a conversation that has to continue as we are expected to do more with less.”

The end of this grant comes at a time when drug manufacture and use are on the rise in Wisconsin. According to the latest numbers from the Wisconsin Department of Justice, in 2013 there were 24 methamphetamine crime lab cases in Marathon County, and almost 800 cases statewide, up from 439 in 2012.

Money from the 10-year federal grant helps to fund programs and initiatives for the partnership council, and has also allowed it to expand. Dotter said at the time the grant initially was approved, the partnership council was working in the Wausau School District and branched out to the city of Wausau. She said that in the last five years the partnership council has moved to the Marathon County Health Department, and the service area has expanded to the Wausau metro area.

“By the nature of the work we do, we really are working to transform the community from a bigger picture level,” Dotter said.

Bezucha said North Central Health Care and the partnership council are both committed to the partnership, and that both organizations hope to find a solution.